The 30-year-old, ranked 117th in the world before this tournament, had missed the cut in half of his eight starts this year, with a best finish of 34th.

"It's unbelievable. I've been asked probably 30 times in the last couple of weeks 'Are you in Augusta? Are you in Augusta?' and I've had to say 'No' and every time it kind of hurt me a little bit after playing the last couple," Laird said.

"So that was my major motivation to try to get back into tournaments like that this year, and this win goes a long way in doing that."